Committee of Deans Meeting 9-1993

Meeting No. 9/93 of the Committee of Deans was held on Tuesday, 3 August 1993, in Conference Room B, Tower Building, at the Caulfield campus, between 2.15 and 4.00 pm.

There were present:

Professor I.W. Chubb, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Dean, Faculty of Business and Economics, in the Chair

Professor R.J. Pargetter, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Projects)

Professor P.LeP. Darvall, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Dean, Faculty of Engineering

Professor L.H.T. West, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International Programs)

Professor B. Dunstan, Acting Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Gippsland)

Professor G.C. Clark, Acting Dean, Faculty of Arts

Professor C.J. Bellamy, Dean, Faculty of Computing and Information Technology

Professor D.N. Aspin, Dean, Faculty of Education

Professor A.J. Duggan, Acting Dean, Faculty of Law

Professor C.B. Chapman, Dean, Victorian College of Pharmacy

Professor R.J. Snedden, Dean, Faculty of Professional Studies

Professor I.D. Rae, Dean, Faculty of Science

Apologies were received from

Professor M.I. Logan and Professor R. Porter

In attendance were:

Professor R.McD. Anderson, Campus Director, Frankston

Mr M.D. Watson, Acting Academic Registrar

Mr G.F. Neat, Executive Director, University Development

Ms C.E. Anderson, Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor

The General Manager, Mr P.B. Wade was unable to attend the meeting.

M I N U T E S

64. Minutes

The minutes of Meeting No. 8/93 held on 13 July 1933, copies of which had been circulated, were confirmed and signed, subject to the apology of Professor Aspin being noted, and clarification of the intent of item 62, The Role of Faculty Assistant Registrars, strategy point 4 in particular, as enunciated by Professor Chubb at item 66.1 below.

65. Matters Arising From the Minutes

65.1 Continuing Education

Professor Darvall reported on behalf of the sub-committee established PLePD at Meeting No. 7/93, Minute 54.2 to review the University's ongoing continuing education activities in the wake of the 1989 EURACE report. After a brief discussion, the Committee approved the sub-committee's recommendation that those recommendations of the EURACE report not already implemented be implemented in so far as they are still relevant to the University's current situation and without prejudice to the continuing operation of the English Language Teaching Centre.

66. Report of the Acting Vice-Chancellor

66.1 The Role of Faculty Assistant Registrars

Picking up the matter he had foreshadowed at item 64 above, Deans Professor Chubb clarified his understanding of the procedure now in train for the transfer of Faculty Assistant Registrars to Deans' establishments. He stressed that a position should not be advertised (externally or internally) unless the outcome of a significant restructuring of faculty administration resulted also in its upward reclassification. Any difficulties experienced with the performance of an incumbent, he said, should be dealt with by application of the existing award provisions. Deans concurred with this view. (See attached sheet.)

66.2 Administrative Reports

As foreshadowed at the previous meeting, Professor Chubb said he PBW would ensure that the first reports from each of the five administrative Divisional Directors would be available to Deans at the next meeting. He said he was particularly anxious for Deans to be well briefed on the state of development of the University's 1994 budget. It was noted that a new Director of Financial Services had been appointed and would commence duty on 9 August.

66.3 Profiles

Professor Chubb reminded Deans of the DEET profiles visit scheduled for 3 September. He said Monash would be aiming for modest growth together with an additional $14M in capital funding, substantially for development of the Berwick campus. He also foreshadowed the possibility of moves by the Government to relax the provisions for charging fees for postgraduate courses and to transfer more of the burden of cost for second degrees to students. It would be as well for Monash to be ready to run with these developments, he said.

66.4 Planning

Professor Chubb reported Deans that visits were being scheduled for himself and Professor Darvall to meet with each Dean as part of the current planning exercise. He said information packages were being prepared to assist discussion, and invited Deans to let him know of any specific requirements that might assist in this regard.

66.5 Viet Nam

Professor Darvall reported briefly on a trip in mid-June by himself, Ms Anderson, and Dr L.N. Binh of the Faculty of Engineering to explore the possibility of links between Monash and higher education in Viet Nam. Contacts were made at the highest levels of Government, he said, with good prospects for further developments.

67. Urgent Matters

67.1 Insurance for Graduate Students

In response to a question from Professor Rae, it was noted that a PBW report on options for improving the insurance cover for students on campus had been discussed at the most recent meeting of Finance Committee. It was also thought likely that the issue would be raised at meetings of Council and Academic Board in the following week. Deans agreed that it would be useful for this issue to come back to the Committee of Deans in due course.

68. Research Matters

Professor Darvall reported that a sub-committee CADRES had prepared a good submission for the Senate standing committee of inquiry into the funding and organisation of research. He also reported that Dr Terry Stokes, the new Manager of Research Services, would be commencing duty 13 August. There then followed a fairly free-ranging discussion on the overall Monash research effort in which a number of viewpoints were put. It was generally agreed, however, that the University should encourage diversity and accept that there would be differences in the level and type of research undertaken across the full range of its activities

69. Chair of Paediatrics

The Committee endorsed the proposal in the appended paper (D23/93) RP from Professor Porter for filling the Chair of Paediatrics to be vacated at the end of the year upon the retirement of Professor Aurthur Clark.

70. Chairs in the Faculty of Arts

The Committee endorsed the proposals in the appended paper (D24/93) GCC from Professor Clark that the vacant chairs in the Departments of Geography and Environmental Science and Japanese Studies be advertised forthwith, subject to a revision of the wording and general thrust of the draft advertisements in each case.

71. Gender Representation on Decision-Making Bodies

The Committee received and noted the appended paper (D25/93) from Professor Chubb.

72. Affirmative Action in the Faculties

The Committee received and noted the appended paper (D26/93) from Professor Chubb.

73. Other Business

73.1 Meeting Frequency

Subject to the Vice-Chancellor's concurrence, the Committee agreed MDW to continue meeting at three-weekly intervals between mid-February and early December in 1994.

73.2 Accreditation of the Faculty of Medicine

The Committee extended its congratulations to Professor Porter on the high commendation of the Faculty of Medicine in the report of the Australian Medical Council's Accreditation Committee.

73.3 Quality

Professor West undertook to provide Deans with copies of the LHTW recently released quality guidelines.

Professor West also gave notice that he would be asking Deans to verify survey data, up-dated in 1992, of community service commitments of staff in their Faculties. A brief discussion took place on options for the internal allocation of any quality funding attracted by the University.

Next Meeting

It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be held at 2.15 pm in the Council Room, University Offices, at the Clayton campus, on the rescheduled date of Tuesday, 31 August.